Robert's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. In that chilling moment, he realized he hadn't crossed a woman-he had crossed a monster.

"So what, after I rejected you, you started targeting my family's company?" If he didn't get the full story, the resentment would eat him alive forever.

He refused to accept being kicked out of the industry like this.

After getting dropped today, he had reached out to dozens of top agents. Not a single one would take his calls. He knew his career in showbiz was dead and buried.

What sickened him most was realizing a woman had orchestrated his entire downfall.

Joanna didn't bother hiding her ambition, laughing mockingly. "Exactly. While we were on set, I did a deep dive into your family and your corporate structure. You were the idiot who couldn't keep your mouth shut and practically handed me all your insider secrets. You brought this on yourself."

She didn't sleep with these wealthy heirs for romance. She did it to extract corporate intelligence so her team could strike the second an opportunity opened up. That was her real endgame. She was never going to let herself become some lovesick fool.

And she definitely wasn't going to end up like Natalie, throwing her entire life away chasing after Sebastian.

Wasting her youth, flushing her best years down the drain.

The years she had spent manipulating Sebastian were the years her company grew the fastest.

It was just a shame she had completely botched her winning hand.

If she had experienced those prophetic dreams sooner, she would have cut ties with Maxwell immediately and married Sebastian.

Her original plan had been to marry Sebastian and then quietly arrange his death.

Then, Maxwell could just step into his shoes.

Too bad Sebastian had already uncovered her secrets. The joke was that he hadn't even cared-he had been so moved by her supposed love that he was willing to give her a second chance at life, but she had been completely oblivious to it.

Robert staggered backward, his mind reeling. He couldn't believe his family's empire was collapsing all because of the woman sitting in front of him.

"Heh..." Robert let out a hollow, desperate laugh, completely consumed by regret.

Joanna watched him coldly, feeling zero sympathy. He was a piece of trash anyway.

Trash deserved to burn.

How dare he zip up his pants and throw her away like garbage?

"You're just getting exactly what you gave me, Robert," Joanna said, her ruthless tone instantly silencing him.

He glared at her with pure venom. "You destroyed my career and ruined my life. You're a goddamn psycho, Joanna. I'm going to kill you."

"If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me!"

He felt like an absolute idiot for falling for her innocent face and soft voice.

He lunged forward, his hands reaching out to wrap around her throat.

But blinded by rage, he completely ignored the massive frame of Horace standing right beside her. Before Robert's hands could even

brush Joanna Horace stepped up and buried his foot deep into Robert's stomach.

"Ugh..." Robert collapsed hard onto the floor, Sprawling awkwardly. The kick knocked the wind out o of him. H curled into a ball, clutching his stomach as he glared up at Joanna.

"You've screwed over too many people! You're going to rot in hell if I don't kill you, someone else will he roared, his voice tearing atshi throat

Joanna simply admired his agony. She had felt that exact same pain once.

But what did his suffering matter? What she went through was a thousand times worse.

"If you had just agreed to my terms back then, Robert, you wouldn't be on the floor right now."